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Hipster vs Pilates enthusiast vs confused dad: ANZ trumpets its contactless payment technology

The technological wizardry of contactless payment technology is gaining momentum, and ANZ is looking to draw further attention to it with a new campaign showing that even a confused dad, encumbered by a mountain of nappies, has the nous to make the magic swipe.  

Dubbed ‘Race to pay’ and fronted by Seven Days  regulars Ben Hurley and Steven Wrigley, the new campaign aims to promote the goMoney Wallet, which allows ANZ users to make contactless payments with a tap of a compatible Android smartphone.

The TVC leading the campaign shows just how much faster it is to use the GoMoney Wallet, and features the pair of funnymen commentating on three shoppers in a supermarket setting: a Pilates enthusiast, a (not very convincing) hipster and a confused dad, as the three make their way to pay at the counter. But only one has the goMoney wallet. Who will manage to pay first, I wonder?

“Smartphones can do more and more clever things that make life easier these days. The campaign simply highlights how quick and easy it is for ANZ customers to now pay with their phone too,” says ANZ head of retail and business marketing Mathew Pickering.

WhybinTBWA creative director Julian Andrews agrees: “GoMoney Wallet is one of those great pieces of technology that helps everyday life run that little bit more smoothly. The work simply dramatizes this, with Ben and Steve there to add a modicum of levity.”

ANZ head of digital and transformation Liz Maguire says this is the first mobile payment app built by a bank in New Zealand, and the first Host Card Emulation (HCE) mobile payment solution in New Zealand.

The Wallet is integrated into ANZ’s mobile banking app, ANZ goMoney, which removes the need for a separate app or sim card upgrade. And much like other contactless payment options, payments can be made with a pin-only required for transactions over $80, an ANZ release says.

Maguire says there are around 17,000 customers who have set up the wallet function within GoMoney on their smartphones since it was launched on 7 December last year.

She says ANZ believes mobile payments to be the next evolution in how people pay for goods and services.

“Mobile payments technology is still very new, but it’s growing quickly worldwide. Currently about 30 percent of all card-present credit card transactions in New Zealand are contactless. In Australia the figures is around 70 percent. We expect contactless use in New Zealand to be at a similar level in two to three years.”

The GoMoney Wallet was designed as the ‘next generation’ mobile payment solution that didn’t require customers to have a separate sim card or a sticker on their phone, she says. 

“When conceptualising GoMoney Wallet, we focused on making it fast, convenient and easy to set up, intuitive to use, consistent in look and feel to the rest of our customers’ mobile banking experience, and with high levels of security to give them peace of mind. GoMoney Wallet has met all those goals. The number of customers who have enabled the function and started using it the way they would a contactless debit or credit card has exceeded our expectations.”

None of the bank’s competitors in New Zealand offer a mobile payments solution that utilises Host Card Emulation (HCE), she says.

GoMoney is also well established, she says, with almost 600,000 users. “So it makes sense that people look to their bank for mobile payments, through the app they already use everyday.”

So will this cause people to make the switch to ANZ?

“We believe that as mobile payments become more mainstream, a simple and secure mobile payments solution will become an indispensable product that banks offer their customer – just like credit cards are today. Customers will increasingly consider the strength of the mobile payment offering when deciding on which bank is right for them.”

But ANZ isn’t the only bank dabbling in contactless payment tech.  

ASB has ‘PayTag’ which can be used with any mobile phone, regardless of make, model, age or operating system, according to its website.

The PayTag is a Visa payWave sticker, which attaches to the back of your phone and is linked to ASB visa debit or visa credit card and essentially acts the same as a Visa payWave card with no need to insert any new sims.

Westpac also uses its own version of the PayTag.

Though it should be noted that this kind of mobile contactless payment is more like getting a miniature version of a payWave card and sticking it to the back of your phone. Not everyone wants a Visa sticker tarnishing the aesthetic of his or her fancy phone cover.

Kiwibank is yet to introduce any mobile contactless payment.

“We have MasterCard contactless in place already, Visa Debit is soon to follow, but we have no plan that we can communicate on mobile banking,” says Kiwibank communications manager Bruce Thompson.

BNZ and ASB have also partnered with mobile wallet Semble, a joint venture by Paymark, Vodafone, Spark and 2degrees. It uses NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, the same as contactless cards, which allows BNZ and ASB customers to purchase with a digital version of their Visa or MasterCard stored on their Android phone.

The technology works even if the phone is turned off and the battery is flat and is just as secure as using a contactless-enabled credit card.

It also partnered up with Snapper last year to allow folks travelling on public transport to pay with their phones rather than fumbling through bags or wallets to reach for their Snapper card.

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